Pages

Click Here and Be My Friend!

Thursday, September 22, 2016

It's been one of those weeks.The printer's proof for "Beyond the Skies" softcover came in, finally after a string of errors on the side of the printer, but this book had a problem: a white border on the outer edges of the pages, where the parchment background should be bleeding off. After some checking, this wasn't a printer error. Instead, a code had been missed flagging the need for the parchment background to extend past the cutting lines. What was worse was that the other two proofs (the hard cover and CST1 "Under the Great Vault") had been produced the same way--it was just luck that their printer's proofs came through looking OK. Alas, this meant sending updated files back to the printer with the correct setup to ensure future prints won't end up with this dreaded white border.

Monday, September 5, 2016

As mentioned earlier, I’ve been working on the next project in Calidar’s lineup while waiting for the present kickstarter’s final component to become available (CST2 Skies of Fury). I needed a change of pace in the wake of two long years slogging through the 248 pages of tiny script and a skyship’s load of floor plans for CC1 Beyond the Skies. Before tackling CAL2, I opted for a standalone adventure connecting directly with CC1. A shorter endeavor to be sure, it is no less colorful and engrossing as the previous two. It should become available to the public in 2017.

This gleeful escapade focuses on a flying circus. Hey, it’s Calidar: everything comes with wings! If it’s not nailed to the floor, by gosh it’ll soar sky high and, for some, into the Great Vault as well. I’m sure you get it by now. By “flying circus” I mean exactly that: a circus with a big tent, surrounding fun houses including a great wheel and a roller-coaster, and the entire village for the circus folk. All of this stands on a huge flying platform and is mapped out in excruciating detail, floor by floor, room by room, tent by tent, including the main and lower decks. The original idea was first introduced as an adventure stub in CC1 Beyond the Skies’ appendix section, coming to you very soon. For now, the working title is CA1 Dreams of Aerie.

Fear not, my friends. There will be no spoilers revealed in this article. I’ll show only top views which will be available to players. Though I’m keeping the plot to myself, CA1 will provide a central story to challenge the heroes, and a series of short forays in and around towns where the traveling circus stops.

A party of adventurers could reside on the vessel as it circles the Great Caldera, visiting its southern climes during the winter season and its cooler reaches in summer. Heroes could otherwise negotiate passage aboard, paying for their fares as circus workers (or—who knows—rise as illustrious stars). With overtones of Barnum & Bailey with a zest of Cirque du Freak, the Greatest Show on Calidar is certain to offer unbound color and fascination.

The booklet should range 60-80 pages incl. color maps, at least that’s the current ball-park. The final count should be set by the end of this year when the writing is complete. "Aeries" shown on the main map are groups of adjoining residences on the circus's main deck. These aeries' will be detailed in the text, with inset floor plans focusing on each house individually and their occupants. The same lavish treatment is to be expected for the fun houses, the main attractions, and the circus's lower deck (a whole new mystery itself).

Crowd-funding for cover art, internal illustrations, edit, and layout should take place early in 2017 (probably March). Production will ensue, pointing at a summer release. As always, thank you for your interest and your support of the Calidar series. Until we meet again, I’ll let you discover a few more screen shots to give you a mental image of what this flying circus looks like from the outside.

I
grew up in France (mostly), England, Morocco, Washington DC, and Texas. I speak mostly French and English, with a little Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Returning to Nice for my education, I graduated from the lycée hotelier in 1977; I got passionately interested in wargames when I was attending the Lycée ... primarily in Avalon Hill games like Kriegspiel, Luftwaffe, Third Reich, and Panzer Leader
— the classics. There were, of course, no French editions of these
games at the time, so I had to learn the American versions. I loved to travel, so I studied hotel management and worked as a concierge in both France and California.

While living in San Francisco I discovered the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, and when I returned to Paris I joined my first regular Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) group. I started writing articles on D&D and AD&D for French gaming magazine Casus Belli, and there learned that TSR
was looking for someone to translate the games into French. Well, I
spoke and wrote both languages, and I knew the games, so a request reached Gary Gygax.
By a coincidence, he was just about to come to Paris on business, and
so we set up a meeting. I must have done OK, because he offered me the
job. After a few months of doing translation work in Nice, TSR requested I move to the home office in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. For a sun-loving Mediterranean like me, Wisconsin in February was a bit of a shock.

After working for two years as a translator, I transferred to TSR's Games Division in July
1985 as an Acquisitions Coordinator, in charge of contracting
freelance writers. I also did game design, including adventure
modules CM7, Tree of Life; M1, Into the Maelstrom; and co-authorship of DL12, Dragons of Faith.

I worked on a number of products for the basic Dungeons & Dragons game, including writing the "Voyage of the Princess Ark" series for Dragon magazine, a monthly feature that lasted about three years, as well as other products for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. I was the Basic D&D line Product Manager for years, during which the beloved D&D Gazetteers and the Rules Cyclopedia were published. I also worked at TSR as the director of production planning and head of games acquisitions.

My son Noel came to this world when TSR went bankrupt. One of the outcomes of the happy event in my life was that I could not follow my colleagues to Renton, Wa, at WotC, which had salvaged most of TSR's creative team. My writing years went on hiatus while I explored other avenues. After some time at US Web near Milwaukee and United Airlines at O'Hare, I'm now back in Wisconsin to re-invent myself and do what I really want to do! This now includes the creation of the World of Calidar.